NVIDIA releases new drivers for Windows XP

NVIDIA has released its latest set of WHQL-approved drivers. According to the …

Normally, new driver releases aren't worth much of a mention, but NVIDIA's recent ForceWare 163.71 (WHQL) release contains some adjustments and features worth noting. According to NVIDIA's driver page, the driver improves
SLI compatibility and performance in both DX9.0c and OpenGL 2.1 applications. It also adds PureVideo HD decode support for
the GeForce 8600, 8500, and 8400 GPU's, and it improves compatibility for a number of notable games, including BioShock,
Crysis, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Hellgate: London, Team Fortress 2, and World in Conflict.

Taking a peak at the actual release notes (PDF), which weigh in at 68 pages, there are a few more interesting tidbits. Many of the compatibility updates for the GeForce 7 and GeForce 8 series involve various fixes to video playback or the correction of extremely specific bugs—one example being the following bug correction:

GeForce 7300 GT: Demo Medieval II: Total War—blue screen crash occurs when playing the game with Battle
map resolution set to 2500x1600 and with 4x AA enabled

Obviously, that's a minor bugfix not worthy of mention on the driver download's main page, but it also serves to demonstrate just how difficult it is to create a driver that functions perfectly in all cases and circumstances. NVIDIA also maintains an extensive list of bugs or issues that are considered "open", which means the issue exists, but either hasn't been fully investigated as of yet, may not be caused by an NVIDIA product, or may have workarounds available.

The bottom line is that if you're having a game or application-related issue that you even suspect may be related to an NVIDIA card or product, it's a good idea to check the full release notes for that particular driver. There's actually an immense amount of information available, and while there's no guarantee a newly released driver will contain precisely the fix you're looking for, you can at least search the release notes to see if NVIDIA has collected any data on the problem.